Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Dec. 21st, 2015 08:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calissa
Published: October 2013 by Orbit
Format reviewed: Paperback, 386 pages
Series: Imperial Radch #1
Genres: Science Fiction
Source: Dymocks
Reading Challenges: The 2016 Sci-fi Experience
Available: Abbey’s ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Booktopia ~ Dymocks ~ Kobo
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.
Breq is both more than she seems and less than she was. Years ago, she was the Justice of Toren – a colossal starship and an artificial intelligence controlling thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.
An act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with only one fragile human body. But that might just be enough to take revenge against those who destroyed her.
There’s been a lot of hype about this book, and particularly around its use of gender, so I admit I was a bit sceptical when I first picked it up. However, I can now say it deserves the praise it has been getting.
Ancillary Justice does some fascinating things with its writing style. Part of that ties into gender. Breq belongs to a culture that does not use linguistic or visual cues to distinguish gender. Throughout the novel, the default pronoun is she. Occasionally, there will be some subtle indications that a character may be male, despite the pronoun. However, generally it remains ambiguous. I had expected this to be a twist that had already been spoiled, so I was surprised to discover the story is upfront about Breq’s difficulty in distinguishing gender. From time to time when in a culture not her own she struggles to correctly gender someone she’s interacting with, but as a reader I was never made to feel like it mattered and I loved that.
Style is also used effectively to convey Breq’s unusual point of view. Breq is an AI and, as such, sees the world very differently to the humans she interacts with. Much of the emotional language is stripped out; while it is clear Breq experiences emotions, she does not always recognise them. Nor does she always recognise them in others, leaving the reader to pick up the clues and piece them together.
As an AI, Breq experiences the world from multiple points of view. This has the curious effect of allowing the story to be told from both a limited first-person perspective as well as a omniscient third-person point-of-view, making the most of both. It also means that the reader has to pay attention, as occasionally two conversations are happening simultaneously on the page.
While I found Ancillary Justice fascinating on an intellectual level, it took me a long time to settle into it. I was halfway through before I found the emotional hook, but once it had me it refused to let me go until the end. It is definitely a book that rewards patience.
Gender is not the only issue the book deals with; it is equally preoccupied with matters of class, colonialism and race. But the heart of the story is about identity more broadly. It examines the fiction of identity as a unified state and the notion that identity can be changed without consent.
Ancillary Justice is a brilliant book and a fantastic way to round out my reviews for 2015.
Mirrored from Earl Grey Editing.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-24 05:20 am (UTC)I really must get on to Seanan McGuire's work. The only stuff of hers I've read is her Newsflesh trilogy as Mira Grant. I loved the hell out of it, and I've been thinking I need to branch out. Would you have a series you particularly recommend?
Yuki Yuna was on my radar at one point, but I got distracted along the way and never quite got to it. I can't say the fanservice makes me want to pick it up.
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Date: 2015-12-24 05:48 am (UTC)I was puzzled by the range of choices for a moment, then realised there was no real contest. Next series I recommend of Seanan's would have the be the Velveteen Vs series, which is available via Seanan's LJ.
Specifically, Here: http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/tag/velveteen%20vs. (Note: this is in reverse chronological order, because LJ. The first instalment, Velveteen Vs the Isley Crawfish Festival is here: http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/32823.html
Note: The stuff she writes as Mira Grant (Newsflesh and Parasitology) tends further into the horrific side and a slight bias to SF, especially body horror. When she writes under her own name (the October Daye books, Incryptid, Velveteen Vs, and Indexing as the main threads) trend more towards fantasy, and whilst she's not afraid to have some horror elements, they aren't nearly the theme that it is with her Mira Grant work.
Also, her Mira Grant work so far seems to be 'a trilogy and done' thing, whilst her McGuire stories are more ongoing.
As for Yuki Yuna, that took a rapid and rather unexpected turn into the seriously dark in the latter half. (I don't recall nearly as much fanservice in that half, but it's possible that's because I was busy processing the plot reveals and just not noticing). IMO, it's really very good, but as a guy I'm a lot less personally affected/offended/squicked by fanservice.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-24 05:57 am (UTC)I'm always happy to pass on shows I found awesome, and hear about shows other people loved.
Tastes don't always coincide, but better to have recs than stumble across stuff blindly, IMO.
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Date: 2015-12-27 09:27 pm (UTC)Do you know John Samuel at all? We sat on the anime panel together a couple of years ago and I find his review blog quite astute. I know he originally lived out your way.
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Date: 2015-12-28 10:47 am (UTC)I also find his reviews good reading and helpful indicators as to whether or not I will like a show.
It's odd, when he lived here, I had a hearty dislike for him, but nowadays the opposite is true.
Maybe I just got over myself, hey? ;)
Perhaps you'll make it to Swancon one year and we can all geek out about anime. ^_^
As for viewing habits, I find my anime viewing waxes and wanes, though not as reliably as the tide or even the seasons.
It had been months since I'd watched any prior to Yuki Yuna, but I feel like I'll be most likely seeing a bunch more over the next couple of months.
Here's hoping that the next few shows I try are to my taste at least as much as Yuki Yuna ended up as.
I'll likely try Accel World or Kokoro Connect next. Currently leaning towards Accel World.
But first, Into The Badlands, because martial arts meets Western meets post-apocalypse sounds like a lot of fun.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-29 05:02 am (UTC)I would dearly love to make it to Swancon one year. I just lost out on the NAFF race, so I've been thinking I might reapply next time WA hosts a Natcon. I doubt I'll be waiting for long :D
Martial arts meets Western meets post-apocalypse does sound interesting, though I'm not quite sure I'd use the word fun. I'd like to hear what you think if you decide to tackle it.
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Date: 2015-12-30 12:54 pm (UTC)Plus, over the years, we've had it so many times it's almost become the default for Swancon to be the Natcon because it's over Easter.
(Of course, these days Swancon is over Easter in no small part because we had the Natcon so many years running.)
Commiserations on your loss, but may you win the next NAFF race that ends in a Swancon visit. ^_^
As for Into The Badlands I found the first two episodes somewhat disappointing. Too trope-bound and thus obvious.
It is a glorious thing that such shows can be made and be considered merely okay to moderately good and still be a success. Geeks and Nerds are living in a golden age, such are the embarrassment of riches aimed at our tastes.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-27 09:21 pm (UTC)Note: The stuff she writes as Mira Grant (Newsflesh and Parasitology) tends further into the horrific side and a slight bias to SF, especially body horror.
Thank you for letting me know. Horror is not usually my jam, so I was quite astonished to enjoy Newsflesh as much as I did.